


No Need For Scars

by TrioMaxwell



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, Mikoshiba's behaviour was inspired by Alex Louis Armstrong from Full Metal Alchemist, Unnamed Rival Team, you read that right
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 07:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1337551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrioMaxwell/pseuds/TrioMaxwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin gets into a fight with a rival team over what happened at the regionals swim meet. </p><p>Dedicated to fellow MikoRin shipper, ThunderDownOnGreenside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Need For Scars

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThunderDownOnGreenside](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThunderDownOnGreenside/gifts).



> ( It was meant to be funny, then it turned serious; I almost got stuck writing it, and for one terrifying moment, couldn't get out.)

“Onii-chan, are you sure you’re alright? Are you still feeling hurt anywhere?” Gou asked worriedly, reaching a hand towards the ugly bruise and broken skin on his cheekbone.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Don’t touch me!” Rin ducked away from his sister’s concerned hand, “And don’t tell Mom,” he added as an afterthought, trying not to flinch as the sudden movement jolted the other bruises hidden on his body.

 

(Shoulders, knuckles, right bicep, and ribs were twinging but thankfully, nothing was broken. He thought with a certain grim satisfaction about how the same couldn’t be said of his attackers. He had given better than he had gotten, was sure he had caused more damage than he had received in the scuffle.)

 

“Don’t be like that, Rin. Kou-chan is just worried about you, you know,” Makoto’s concerned voice cut in. Rin scowled at the bed sheets to avoid looking at the varying levels of pity, worry and concern displayed in the eyes of perhaps three-quarters of the all the people whose opinion mattered to him in the world.

 

(Yes, he was stupid,  _again_ ; he had let his pride and temper get the better of him,  _again_. In other words, he had fucked up,  _again_. Even though he had felt justified at the time and there was no way he was totally at fault for the brawl, his ire over having others worry about him hurt his pride and ego more than the circumstances that had resulted in him landing in hospital. He even had to be told off by Makoto on how to treat his sister. He suddenly felt like he was ten years old.)

 

“That’s right, Rin. What you did was really stupid,” Haruka said bluntly.

 

(Rin bit his lower lip to stop his snappish reply of, “Thank  _you_ , Captain Obvious.” He could stand to learn a lesson or two from Haruka on being cool and unflappable. His inability to control his quick tongue and quicker temper had always been the catalyst that had landed him in similar situations in the first place.)

 

“I don’t know about you guys, but I think Rin-chan was  _cool_! He took down four guys  _all~~~_  by himself!” Nagisa chimed in, waving his hands in excitement. Everyone, Rin included, threw Nagisa incredulous looks, which the blonde either blithely ignored or remained unaware.

 

(Trust Nagisa to look on the bright side of all things, to ignore all the scandalized looks, to come up with the borderline socially unacceptable comments in a bid to defuse the situation, Rin thought. Must come with being a shota and the youngest in his family.)

 

“What possessed Rin-san to get into a fight with four people at once though? What happened before we showed up? Gou-san, can you tell us?” Rei asked curiously.

 

(And of course, the voice of reason from the one who knows me the least, and the one I owe the most. If he hadn’t offered to let me swim that day, … )

 

Gou sighed and said hesitantly, with a cautious glance at Rin who stiffened as she spoke for him. “Onii-chan was walking me to the mall to meet with Aiichirou-kun when those four guys tried to flirt with me. Onii-chan brushed them off, of course,” she reached a hand out to cover Rin’s clenched fist, giving it a squeeze. “Then, one of them recognized Onii-chan from the relay at regionals.”

 

“Hai! I recognized them too,” Nitori chipped in, sliding his mobile phone into his pocket, nodding reassuringly at Gou. “They were the team who qualified for the relay when your team was disqualified.”

 

Rin dug his fingers into his thighs as he remembered the moment he had lost his cool. Nitori and Gou were still talking but he couldn’t hear them amidst the blood roaring in his ears.

 

_("Che. That's the guy from that dumbass Iwatobi team that lost to us during the regionals, isn't he?"_

_“Yeah, from Samezuka. Stupid loser schools, both of them.” Mocking laughter from the group followed that comment._

_Rin saw red when he heard those words. He spun around so fast he almost got whiplash, eyes blazing like chips of ruby flint._

_His friends didn’t have to lose that race. They had given him the chance to swim with them, to move forward in swimming, thereby sacrificing any chance they had to move forward to the next round. They had shown him that their love for him and the idealistic, cheerful twelve-year-old boy he had been was more priceless to them than victory, an act so incredibly_ stupid _and so unbelievably_ noble _that he still could not believe they had granted it to him. Why train, why compete, if not to win? Their relay together that day had been something they all wanted, his participation, his pride and his shame; he had regretted it immediately upon seeing the Iwatobi team and his own team captain having to bow deeply and apologize repeatedly to the tournament officials to avoid future repercussions for future tournaments, accepting the rebukes for all the trouble he had caused, which only drove home what an inept and incompetent person he was, that so many people had to be troubled to take care of him. His captain hadn’t kicked him off the team, hadn’t broken up with him._

 

 _So much love and so many chances given to he who hardly deserved them._ All the sights he had never seen before, all burned into his eyeballs.

 

_He had tried to be a better friend, a better person, he had promised to swim hard for his own team but he still didn’t know how to make it up to all of them, what could ever return the chances lost to them. However, he sure as hell wasn’t going to stand around and hear both his teams being insulted by a quartet of idiots with a tenth of their talent and none of their heart._

_Shrugging off Gou’s restraining hand on his arm, pushing her behind him, signaling her to get away, Rin had snapped, "We didn't lose to_ anyone _, we were disqualified. We beat you by_ a mile _! Know the difference, you slowpoke punks!” He added sneeringly. “Are you sure we’ve ever competed against you guys before? You blobs look like you would_ suck _at treading water!”_

_All the insults that could ever be applied to swimmers learnt during his time in Australia came back to Rin easily, giving him a rich and creative arsenal with which to trade back and forth until the other four boys finally lost their temper. Two grabbed his arms while a third swung a fist at Rin’s face._

_Rin had allowed himself to be hit once in the face and in the ribs. He grinned at the pain, accepted it. Secure in the knowledge that by definition, he hadn’t started this fight, he wrenched his arms free with the strength built from years of practising butterfly. Then, he had broken the noses of the two boys restraining his arms and clotheslined the one in front of him into the ground. The fourth boy had turned and fled._

_Nitori had pounced on him then, and together with the Iwatobi team who had turned up at the mall in time to hear the heated exchanges, swept him away. They brought him to the hospital to be treated, the skin on his face broken and bleeding, requiring six stitches._

 

 

_(From what Rin had surmised from their conversations, the escorted trip had resulted in three dates ruined and six movie tickets gone to waste.)_

 

_Great, he cringed, more priceless time sacrificed for him.)_

 

Could he fuck this day up worse for anyone else anymore? He was sure everyone in the room was tired of having to look out for him, of the trouble he had caused. There was nothing nice anyone could say to him, judging from the silence and it was probably easier for all parties involved if they hadn’t bothered with him in the first place.

 

Suddenly, the door to his room was flung open and every head in the room swung round to see Mikoshiba Seijuurou standing in the doorway, panting and brandishing a humongous bouquet of bright red roses and yellow sunflowers.

 

“Rin! I heard you were in hospital and I came right away!”

 

Rin stared dumbly at his boyfriend and captain as he approached the bed and laid the bouquet of flowers on his lap. From the corner of his eye, he caught Nitori grinning and giving a V-sign to Gou and the rest and the tense atmosphere in the room relaxed, and they began whispering to each other.

 

_They weren’t mad at him for wrecking their dates. In fact, they were just making sure that... he knew he wasn’t alone?_

 

He looked down at the flowers, and bit down on the inside of his mouth, hard, a kaleidoscope of vibrant reds and yellows filling his vision as his eyes swam with tears.  _He didn’t deserve this._

 

“What’s wrong, Rin? I heard you were in a fight, were you badly hurt?” Seijuurou asked worriedly.

 

Rin shook his head, throat dry and tight, unable to coherently speak or explain.

 

“Then, it must be because everyone here is so quiet, and you’re bored, aren’t you?” Seijuurou’s voice suddenly became loud and cheerful, and he suddenly stripped off his shirt and jacket with great flourish, baring his impressively muscled chest and torso, eliciting an appreciative squee and enthusiastic clapping from Gou, loud cheers from Nagisa (Go, Sei-chan!) and dropped jaws from everyone else in the room. He then held out his arms and sang out dramatically, “Ah, my dear! Let me comfort you while you’re bored out of your mind from being hospitalized!”

 

Rin gawked for a moment too long as Seijuurou advanced upon him, then tried to fling himself off the bed, almost dying from second-hand embarrassment.

 

Seijuurou caught him easily, enveloping him in a warm bear hug  _that felt like home_. Rin found the safe place between Seijuurou’s neck and shoulder and buried his face there. To his surprise, he  _did feel_  comforted and he decided he didn’t ever want to leave.

 

Laughing and wiping tears from her eyes, Gou got up and patted Rin on the head, then Mikoshiba on the shoulder. “See you, onii-chan! I’ll leave my big brother in your care then, Mikoshiba-san!” Mikoshiba made a noise of cheerful affirmation. Then, Gou linked hands with Nitori  _(Take care, Rin-senpai, buchou!)_  and they both left the room.

 

As the Iwatobi group got up to make their greetings and leave, Rin managed to raise his head and say wobblingly, “I’m sorry for wrecking your date, guys. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

 

He was sure he heard Nagisa whisper excitedly to Rei, “Pizza buffet!” followed by Rei’s sputtering about Nagisa’s probable diet imbalances in response, and Haruka hissing, “No, mackerel dinner,” and Makoto hushing his boyfriend before smiling at them and exiting quietly from the room.

 

\--------------------------------

 

 

Rin remained quietly in the circle of protecting arms for a while, then girded himself to break the silence. He ventured, “Aren’t you going to ask me what happened?”

 

Seijuurou exhaled into his hair. “Nitori told me what happened at the mall, who you fought with. I can guess why. Wouldn’t be far from the truth, I think.” He paused, thinking. “Beating them up won’t return the win to Iwatobi. It wouldn’t un-disqualify them.”

 

Rin cringed even as he mourned for the partial truth. “They called both our schools losers.”

 

Seijuurou’s voice was surprised, “Didn’t we get the title of Overall Champion for the regionals?” He then shook himself. “You should know that no matter what the reason, I’m angry that you challenged four people at once.” A pause. “I’m also relieved you’re the one who walked away.” Rin felt a gentle hand grip his chin and angle his face up towards the light. Seijuurou frowned at the bruise and stitched skin. “You’ve got to stop hurting yourself, you know. What if it scars?”

 

Rin blinked. His looks were the least of his concerns at the moment. “Then it scars. I don’t care!” He looked away, angry at Seijuurou for worrying about something so *cosmetic*. 

 

Seijuurou shook him gently to get his attention. “Think about those of us who have to look at the scar and remember how you came by it, you idiot." Rin looked into Sei's golden eyes. "You’ve been trying to make up for the regionals. What you’re doing  _is enough_. Your Iwatobi friends aren’t bleeding from the heart, they’ve moved on. You can move on, too.” Seijuurou kissed Rin on the forehead, on the tip of his nose, on his mouth. Rin blinked, tears pricking his eyes. Had everyone really moved on, forgot about all the trouble that he had caused? Was it so simple? 

 

“Come  _on_ , Rin. What do you say?  _You don’t need scars_. Let’s move on.”

 

_How was it that Seijuurou seemed to know the words to make his heart feel lighter?_

 

Rin nodded into the warm, broad chest.

 

“No scars,” he promised and raised his head. “Let’s go back to Samezuka.”

 

 

 

 

**Omake**

(Samezuka dorms, Seijuurou’s room)

 

Both Rin and Sei were cuddling on the bed when Rin spotted a small card tucked in the bouquet of flowers that he had left on the floor. He leaned over and plucked it out for both him and Sei to read, a short message printed in beautiful, cursive script.

 

_‘I love you, darling! Congratulations on the birth of our baby girl!’_

 

They stared at the card, then wide-eyed at each other.

 

"Oops?" Sei mouthed.

 

Rin’s initial fierce glare broke down as his trembling lips betrayed him and both boys started snickering madly, Rin’s giggles curtailed by bruised ribs. Rin leaned forward to kiss Seijuurou.

 

“I love you too, you dork.”

 

 

**END**

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:  
> Mikoshiba's behaviour was inspired by Alex Louis Armstrong from Full Metal Alchemist; more accurately, this set of Full Metal Alchemist gifs.
> 
> http://triomaxwell.tumblr.com/post/80033645148/phantomhivespookysass-akihiro12372-if-a 
> 
> Meant to be fluff, but I probably ruined it in a quest for plot. 
> 
> Dedicated to ThunderDownOnGreenside, I sure hope you like it. *feels like I burned the cake* *facepalms*


End file.
